1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for collecting game data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for collecting game data that is required when the performance of an online game server is tested.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtual clients are clients which are made in order to substitute for real users when the performance of an online game server is tested. Such a virtual client is generally generated in such a way as to capture network packets between a game server and a game client, and is used in such a way as to make a real game client into a dummy client.
When a virtual client is generated in such a way as to capture network packets, the generated virtual client cannot know any other information besides that of communication packets exchanged with a game server, so that game data, such as information about topographies and Non-Player Characters (NPCs), cannot be obtained.
However, tests related to movement and hunting occupy the majority of the performance tests of an online game server and there are many cases in which game data, such as geographical data, NPC data, or monster data, is necessary to the process of performing such a performance test.
The performance test of an online game server includes a series of scenarios.
For example, in such a scenario, a character corresponding to a user logs in at a first location, moves to a second location and hunts some monsters, and then communicates with an NPC at a third location. According to an action corresponding to the movement from the first location to the third location in the scenario, the movement is performed along a route which is the same as the route which was found in a captured packet, if game data does not exist. That is, when the captured packet is copied and a plurality of packets is generated, an abnormal test, in which characters move in a line, is performed. In order to prevent such an abnormal performance test, an arbitrary coordinate value can be set. However, the arbitrary coordinate value may correspond to a topology, such as a cliff or under the sea, in which a character cannot move on a game map. Therefore, game data is required in order to perform a realistic performance test.
When there is no game data in the prior art, the progress of a performance test depends only on packets exchanged between a game server and a game client, so that there is a problem in that accurate results of the performance test cannot be obtained.